Los Angeles Consortium of Online Travel members, we have our next meet up lined up for May 1st, and this one is going to be very different from all our previous LACOT shindigs. How does munching on Sprinkles cupcakes while taking in one of the most glorious views of Los Angeles sound to you? Sounds good to me, and that’s just one part of this next meet up for us Los Angeles-area travel writers and sundry tourism types. Let me introduce you to LACOT’s meet up host, WanderWe.

WanderWe is a new travel startup — founded a year ago — with a downtown LA office. Briefly (because I’ll get more familiar with WanderWe at our get-together), it is billed as the only site which focuses on the short, close-to-home type of getaway and that makes it particularly unique in the travel space. WanderWe takes not only destinations but also budget and types of travel experience desired into account when creating itineraries. In other words (and remember, I’ll know more on May 1st, as will those of you who attend) WanderWe is not just hyperlocal for travel planners, but hyper-individualized too for long weekends and other short travel excursions.

WanderWe Headquarters

WanderWe’s headquarters are on the 44th floor of City National Plaza in a large, beautiful space with views of the iconic Hollywood sign and the mountains. We should be able to enjoy a great sunset over downtown Los Angeles if the weather is clear…ah, who am I kidding, this is Los Angeles. The odds are forever in our favor. Best of all — parking will be covered for all LACOT guests! Love when that happens.

Go righhhht…here

During the Los Angeles Online Travel Meet-up with WanderWe, WanderWe will have a bartender in their space, pouring red and whine wines, and beer. There’ll be some light appetizers as well as Mendocino Farms salads, cheeseboards (my favorite), the aforementioned Sprinkles cupcakes, and more. The folks at WanderWe told me that they know 7-9PM is prime dinner time and that they don’t want us travel bloggers/writers to be hungry! I like them already.

A WanderWe HQ view; surprised any work gets done at all here

I look forward to the Los Angeles Online Travel Meet-up with WanderWe and learning more about WanderWe. So far, the hyperlocality for quick getaways and promotion of travel oriented towards different preferred vacation styles (luxury, backpacking, family, etc) sound like a terrific idea. Having something so specific in the travel space will add to the overall value of the internet for those planning their travels online. I also look forward to those donuts.

]]>http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2014/04/16/los-angeles-online-travel-meet-up-with-wanderwe/feed/13http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2014/04/16/los-angeles-online-travel-meet-up-with-wanderwe/The Most Fun Travel Show in the Country: Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Showhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LosAngelesOnlineTravel/~3/Dmqznr4oWUI/
http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2014/02/17/the-most-fun-travel-show-in-the-country-los-angeles-travel-adventure-show/#commentsMon, 17 Feb 2014 14:28:07 +0000http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/?p=1835Continue reading →]]>The 2014 Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show has come and gone, and yet again has set new record for attendance and happy visitors. This 9th annual travel show is the biggest in the United States, with more and more tourism professionals (CVBs, DMOs) clambering to secure booths and exhibition spaces to highlight their travel destinations. Having witnessed and been part of the terrific Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show for a few years now — and watching its successful move to the Long Beach Convention Center from downtown LA — this is unadulturated good news. It’s beyond a doubt the most fun travel show in the country.

This really was an extraordinary year. Over 33,000 visitors came to the show, to browse the exhibitor areas and booths, and to listen to guest speakers like Pauline Frommer and Rick Steves talk. The Long Beach Convention Center easily hold that many people, so while the floor felt bustling and lively, it never felt too crowded or log-jammed. There were 450 exhibits booths, quite a few of which put on dances native to their represented destination. Visitors lined up to take photos with some of the dancers, and laughter plus shouts of appreciation added to the atmosphere. This really helps make it the most fun travel show in the country.

Now, the speaker stages (Destination Theater, Travel Channel Theater, Global Beats) had many cool presentations and performances, with focuses on diverse travel destinations like Taiwan, New Zealand, Tahiti, Europe and Africa. My Saturday how-to presentation “Best Travel Apps” was very well- attended, and my co-speakers and I were happy to answer travel app questions afterwords as well (keep in mind that this was at 5:00PM, when the Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show theoretically shuts down for the evening). Rick Steves, Samantha Brown, and other travel specialists’ presentations were well attended as well; so much so, that the Travel Channel stars repeated themselves the next day. The high level of visitor engagement was gratifying.

The most fun travel show in the county left exhibitors very satisfied. Yosemite National Park was a major sponsor of the Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show; Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau Director of Sales Julie Fullmer said, “This is one of the best shows of the year and the Los Angeles Show is not to be missed. The attendees seem to be the types that are ready to go on a vacation. All different ages were represented, and the Long Beach show seems to draw out a better quality and better educated consumer.”

In fact, the exhibitors were so pleased with the 2014 Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show that next year’s show, the 2015 Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show, has already seen a record number of exhibitor renewals — and many exhibitors are “voting with their pocket” by paying for increasing the sizes of their booths. This allows them to meet the demands and expectations of increased attendee volume and interaction. It’s the interaction, after all, that leads to happy attendees with stars in their eyes about the travel destinations they’ve now dreaming of exploring. Average time spend at the show this year was almost 5 hours (4.93 hours) per visitor. That is a really long time!

The Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show is becoming, if not already become, the nation’s “go-to” event for travel marketers. It’s not only the largest travel trade show in the US, it’s also the most fun travel show in the country. The 2015 Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show is set for February 21-22; mark your calendars and I’ll see you there.

The Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show is almost here! On February 8-9, the Long Beach Convention Center will once again host the Southern California’s largest and best-run travel trade show. And, once again, the Los Angeles Consortium of Online Travel (LACOT; that’s us, folks) is a media partner. Since you’re reading this, you can find information below regarding how to get rebated admission –cool, right? And if you’re a member of the media, you can apply for free passes. I think this year is going to be the best one yet. Here’s why.

This is the largest, most successful travel show in the country, and has been for quite some time. This year, the Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show will have over 400 exhibitors from all around the world, in booths and on stage, getting attendees excited to visit their destinations. Besides the destinations featured throughout the show, there will be some fantastic travel experts speaking and available for friendly encounters. The top travel experts include the Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown, radio host and Frommer’s Guidebooks Editorial Director Pauline Frommer, television travel expert Peter Greenberg, best-selling author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die Patricia Schultz, and the world’s most affable television travel show host, Rick Steves.

Of course, I’ve got to also mention my panel. I’ll be speaking on February 8th, with Kim Lachance Shadrow, Brett Snyder, and Sharlene Earnshaw. Our topic is travel apps, and while I’ve enjoyed speaking about travel apps at the Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show with Kim and Brett in years past, this year I happily welcome Sharlene, a friend and fellow travel blogger, who will be covering some of her recommended kid-friendly apps to keep children entertained while on the road. Come say hi!

The Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show will take place from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, February 8th and 9th, at the Long Beach Convention Center. Tickets are available online, but LACOT members and readers can get their passes for just $8.00: just use the code LACOT when securing your ticket online. Tickets at the door are $15, but kids under 16 years old get free admission. For tickets and more detailed event information, go to LATravelShow.com, email info@LATravelshow.com, or call (203)878-2577.

Happy 2014, Los Angeles Consortium of Online Travel members! We’ve got our first meet up of the new year lined up and — sorry, reps and publicists — this one is for travel writers and travel bloggers only. It’s at the cool and super-hip Soho House on January 31st…and our host is even cooler and more super-hip, not to mention brand new Waldorf-Astoria Beijing. Awesome!

Los Angeles is a terrific city to host one of the celebrations regarding the opening of the Waldorf-Astoria Beijing, since LAX has direct flights. Soho House is a terrific hotel to host this celebration, and (we must acknowledge ourselves) our happy group of LACOT travel bloggers and travel writers here in Los Angeles are a terrific group with whom to celebrate. Seeing that, ya know, we enjoy having a good time.

Waldorf Astoria Beijing’s shining exterior

What’s that you say? You didn’t know there was a Waldorf-Astoria in Beijing? Well, no worries; there hasn’t been one. The hotel’s soft opening will be a week after our meet up (February 8, 2014 to be precise) and it will start accepting reservations starting in April. Beijing ,as you know, is the capital of China — and like much of the capital city, the Waldorf Astoria Beijing will shine. And I mean, literally shine: the exterior is plated with gleaming bronze. The Waldorf Astoria will be the only luxury boutique hotel in Beijing’s Wangfujing district. Also like Beijing, the hotel is an interesting mix of old and new — the 176-room property boasts an impressive contemporary Chinese art collection and offers guests the option of staying in one of the five traditional old-style hutong suites. Catering to luxury and business travelers, Waldorf Astoria Beijing will have 55 suites among its rooms, and a luxury spa/indoor pool, and three on-site restaurants. Like the sound of this so far? Well, also know that like other Waldorf Astoria properties, this one has personal concierges and other hallmarks of True Waldorf Service.

Elegant interior design of the new Waldorf Astoria Beijing

LACOT’s travel blogger members and Waldorf-Astoria Beijing’s General Manager Marlene Poynder will be getting together in The Club Bar in the Soho House on Friday, January 31 from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. There will be wine and beer, and light snacks to help round out the healthy meals of said wine and beer. Come hear about this newest property in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Resorts’ high-end collection, and hang out, and have a great night.

You can tweet at our group’s Twitter account @LA_COT, leave a comment below, or email me to RSVP.

Soho House
9200 Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA
(310) 432-9200

]]>http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2014/01/27/travel-bloggerswriters-meetup-at-the-soho-house/feed/6http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2014/01/27/travel-bloggerswriters-meetup-at-the-soho-house/The Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Centerhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LosAngelesOnlineTravel/~3/QDL4GiWnPz0/
http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2014/01/21/the-space-shuttle-endeavour-at-the-california-science-center/#commentsWed, 22 Jan 2014 01:18:35 +0000http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/?p=1798Continue reading →]]>Does outer space fascinate you? Come examine the Space Shuttle Endeavour up close at its permanent home at the California Science Center’s Samuel Oschin Pavilion. That’s right here in Los Angeles, kitty corner from the Museum of Natural History. There are many informational displays and graphics surrounding the horizontally positioned orbiter; these take you from A to Z in describing its thundering ascent into orbit, its high-speed runway landing, the functions of key components — including its thermal protection system, orbital maneuvering system, and main engines — and reveal the science and technology behind one of the most advanced transportation systems ever created. The Pavilion also features images and video featuring Endeavour past missions and the diverse crews who flew them. Timed reservations required during peak times.

The California Science Center also has an IMAX Theater on-site featuring a 7-story screen that brings to life worlds as small as an atom and as vast as the universe.

Enjoy this IMAX discount coupon for $2 off adult and $1 off child IMAX admission. General admission to the Science Center is FREE. This includes all permanent exhibits. (Excludes special paid exhibits and IMAX films.)

]]>http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2014/01/21/the-space-shuttle-endeavour-at-the-california-science-center/feed/0http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2014/01/21/the-space-shuttle-endeavour-at-the-california-science-center/Festival of the Pacific Meet Up in Los Angeleshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LosAngelesOnlineTravel/~3/wwYkwW4LngY/
http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/10/10/festival-of-the-pacific-meet-up-in-los-angeles/#commentsThu, 10 Oct 2013 16:21:54 +0000http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/?p=1749Continue reading →]]>Los Angeles is great, isn’t it? So much to do, terrific weather, beaches and mountains and downtown fun. Members of the Los Angeles Consortium of Online Travel (LACOT, that’s us!) get even more. For example: Our next meet up. It’s at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel on October 16, at 7:00 PM. And this one is special — our friends and LACOT members Lisa Niver Rajna and George Rajna are back in Los Angeles from a career break, and eager to share their story. The first 40 guests to show up for this Festival of the Pacific meet up in Los Angeles will receive drink tickets, but don’t come just for the wine!

If you’ve been to one of the LACOT meet-ups before, you know what they’re like. This one will be similar, but also with a strong focus on Lisa and George’s experience. Come connect with LA-area travel bloggers, travel writers, and members of the tourism industry. If you’ve ever daydreamed about quitting your day job to become a world wanderer-slash-travel blogger-slash-book writer, you should meet Lisa and George, because they’ve done just that. Their talk will be moderated and they’ll stick around afterwords for the usual mix-n-mingle (that’s the most fun part).

Festival of the Pacific is a celebration of travel and transformation hosted by PennClubLA, LACOT, Dave’s Travel Corner, and We Said Go Travel. The theme, “Living Without Regret: Travel, Love and Success: Make your Dreams a Reality,” is presented by the founders of We Said Go Travel, Lisa Niver Rajna and George Rajna, who will give an inside look into their long-term exotic international travel across Asia over the last fifteen months. They will share their travel expertise, read an excerpt from their new memoir, “Traveling in Sin,” and provide information about We Said Go Travel’s writing contest.

Every attendee will receive a raffle ticket — for free! – upon entering our meeting space. The raffle includes a handful of neat travel-related prizes. For example, someone will win a great voucher for Uber, the taxi alternative. Have you heard of Uber? It’s the luxury car for hire service, a nicer ride than most taxis, and someone will win a $150 voucher for Uber use. That’s a lot of rides! People new to Uber will also receive up to $20 on their first use of the service (it’s an app, too) with a special code.

Another item in the raffle will be a night at our wonderful host hotel, the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel. Perfect for a local getaway. We also have tickets to the Skirball Cultural Center, and two vouchers for like a billion museums (well, that’s an exaggeration) for LA Museum Season. This is actually good for free admissions and gift shop discounts at over 25 Los Angeles cultural institutions including LACMA, the Getty Center, Hammer Museum, Pacific Asia Museum, the Paley Center for Media, and many more.

We’re trying to keep a closer eye on the RSVPs this time, so please go to Lisa and George’s special events page on Facebook and RSVP there. Alternatively, you can go to the PennClubLA website and RSVP there. If you forget, no worries, just show up anyway. While we’d like to know how many people to expect, this is more of a ballpark figure.

Long story short: join us for conversation, drinks and the raffle, at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel on October 16, at 7:00 PM.

]]>http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/10/10/festival-of-the-pacific-meet-up-in-los-angeles/feed/0http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/10/10/festival-of-the-pacific-meet-up-in-los-angeles/Los Angeles Go Cardhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LosAngelesOnlineTravel/~3/1k1JnrGu2bU/
http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/09/28/los-angeles-go-card/#commentsSat, 28 Sep 2013 16:05:43 +0000http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/?p=1724Continue reading →]]>Los Angeles is one of the most popular travel destinations in North America. With all that the sunny city has to offer, this is hardly a surprise. What first-time visitors are often stymied by, however, is the traffic and congestion in and around Los Angeles. Our freeway system is no joke! Or, alternately, it is one big joke, depending on your perspective. Rather than scare off potential travelers to Los Angeles — which truly is a wonderful coastal, beachy, perfect-weather-all-the-time vacation destination — use your Los Angeles Go Card, and use it wisely.

The Los Angeles Go Card has dozens of activities and attractions on it, but no traveler should attempt to do more than a few a day. First of all, the distance between several of the top attractions (say, Universal Studios Hollywood and the Aquarium of the Pacific) is too great. You’ll spend more time on a freeway than at an attraction. Secondly, if you have a sense of urgency, of needing to cross “all these” attractions and activities off your list, you’ll rush through them and not give yourself time to enjoy each as it deserves. Instead, plan your Los Angeles GoCard attraction visits by neighborhood. Pair Universal Studios Hollywood and the Hollywood Walk of Fame one day, for example, and the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Queen Mary in Long Beach, the next day. You’ll save time, gas, and patience this way. With almost 40 terrific Los Angeles activities and attractions, you’ll have plenty to choose from in each part of LA you want to see.

Since I live in Los Angeles, let me be your guide for this journey. Say you have the 3-day Los Angeles Go Card. You’re not going to want to get to all 40 of those attractions, of course, so take half an hour to narrow it down — first by what you definitely want to see, and then group them together by proximity. Whether or not you have kids, there are a few things you’ll probably want to do. Universal Studios Hollywood, Six Flags, Knott’s Berry Farm and the Santa Monica Pier are all popular amusement parks, but honestly, you’ll be exhausted and pretty unhappy if you try to do all of them in 3 days. I’d suggest skipping Six Flags. It’s far away, it’s inland enough that it’s egregiously hot, and it’s in dire need of a paint job. This is one amusement park that looks a little grim around the edges.

Knott’s Berry Farm, while also quite a distance away from the center of Los Angeles, is a different matter. I loved it. Children have great times on the rides, it is clean, and the staff seem genuinely happy to work there. Not only that, but at Knott’s Berry Farm, there are costumed actors portraying early American life. They make lace, they portray life as schoolteachers, and they interact with curious children in knowledgeable ways about the character they’re portraying. So, look at that: A little education slipped into a day at an amusement park! Can’t beat that.

Universal Studios Hollywood is also fun, and with the news that the theme park is going to be building its own version of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it will entice even more older kids and teenagers than ever. Its rides are more thrilling than those at Knott’s, but less so than at Six Flags. It’s a happy medium. After half a day at Universal Studios Hollywood, your kids (and you!) will definitely be to pooped to go to another big attraction. Instead, go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Theater. Both are easy photo opportunities, and typical tourist attractions for out-of-towners.

The next day, if your kids are still excited about the idea of theme parks on vacation, head to the Santa Monica Pier. My kids have been having fun at Pacific Pier, the small old-timey amusement park there, for years. It’s right on the pier near a Bubba Gump’s, and offers a small assortment of rides, along with the usual amusement park booths, cotton candy, and that sort of thing. It’s a nice way to spend a few hours, and it’s on the beach itself; afterwards, you can go to the beach and play in the ocean. We love to stroll over to the 3rd Street Promenade after some time at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier; there’s lots of people-watching there, lots of restaurants and shopping too.

After a couple of days of amusement parks in and around Los Angeles, I’d like to think your children will be ready to visit a couple museums. Travelers tend to think that the only things to do in Los Angeles are beach related or Hollywood-related, but the Getty Museum and Getty Villa are really fantastic, world class museums that have enough interactive activities to keep kids interested. …Well, SOMEWHAT interested, if your kids are anything like mine.

The La Brea Tar Pits, right on Wilshire Boulevard (which is, like Sunset Blvd, one of our major east-west thoroughfares) can be another interesting visit. During the Ice Age, creatures like saber-tooth tigers, wooly mammoths and giant sloths fell into natural tar pits here, and today paleontologists are still recovering their fossils. It’s fascinating to see paleontologists at work, if you’re lucky enough to time our visit right, and the fossils on display are in great condition. Think about this: you’ve just spent two days speeding around Los Angeles (or, more likely, sitting on the freeways going 15 miles an hour) and enjoying the hypermodernity of this city. To take even an hour to wander around the La Brea Tar Pits museum and maybe see parts of these long -extinct animals get pulled up from under those busy city streets, adds a different level of appreciation for Los Angeles. No other city in the United States is more in touch with the present and future, but with the ancient past still visually accessible as well, if you give yourself the time to witness it.

]]>http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/09/28/los-angeles-go-card/feed/3http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/09/28/los-angeles-go-card/Save the Date – October 16 Meet Uphttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LosAngelesOnlineTravel/~3/YH9Wfaicg_g/
http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/08/28/save-the-date-october-16-meet-up/#commentsWed, 28 Aug 2013 15:01:31 +0000http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/?p=1706Continue reading →]]>Save the Date – October 16, 2013 will be the next meet up of the Los Angeles Consortium of Online Travel.

Lisa and George of We Said Go Travel have been active members of LACOT for quite a while now (well, not that long, we just started this thing in 2011). If you noticed that they weren’t at any of last year’s meet ups, they had a good reason; they spent the year on a career break, traveling around Southeast Asia. They’re returning to LA soon, and the Los Angeles Consortium of Online Travel is partnering with a few companies to give them a big old warm welcome back.

More details forthcoming, but this is going to be a very, very nice evening. We’ll have a raffle (cool prizes! Wait ’til you see), drinks, and conversation at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel on October 16, at 7:00 PM. Come join LACOT and the University of Pennsylvania’s Alumni Association. Lisa and George will be talking about long-term international travel across Asia and reading a short except from their new memoir “Traveling in Sin.” Sounds like devilish good fun.

So, mark your calendar, and we hope to have you join us in October!

Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel

11461 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049

(310) 476-6571

]]>http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/08/28/save-the-date-october-16-meet-up/feed/4http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/08/28/save-the-date-october-16-meet-up/The Downtown Flea: A Hip New Market in Downtown Los Angeleshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LosAngelesOnlineTravel/~3/ihzK3Svv5ms/
http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/2013/08/06/the-downtown-flea-a-hip-new-market-in-downtown-los-angeles/#commentsTue, 06 Aug 2013 23:43:41 +0000http://losangelesonlinetravel.com/?p=1688Continue reading →]]>Have you heard of Los Angeles’ Downtown Flea? Don’t feel too bad if you haven’t: Downtown Flea is a new monthly flea market for Etsy lovers, art collectors, vintage clothing and mid-century furniture connoisseurs, and residents who just want to get out and have a good time. Sprawled over 4 parking lots from 3rd and Main to 2nd and Spring Street, vendors set up shop against a street art background and the hovering downtown buildings, catering to the Instagram culture of today. In other words, the Downtown Flea is a hip new market in downtown Los Angeles, and it’s here just in time for the cultural gentrification of the area.

As any LA resident knows, there are several flea markets around town. The two most popular flea markets, the once a month Rose Bowl and the every Sunday Fairfax High School, are on opposites sides of town, MidCity and Pasadena. One thing that was missing in the flea market arena was a downtown Los Angeles location. With housing at an all time high in the downtown district, it only makes sense that this is the new and exciting place to hold a flea market meet-up.

And I say meet-up because that’s exactly what it felt like. Complete with food trucks, a DJ and, surprisingly, a rock-climbing wall, there is definitely a community hang out vibe that goes beyond that of traditional flea markets. With over 10 food trucks in attendance, most people showed up to shop and dine. The music and food area, complete with couches and chairs that were also for sale, made it easy to sit back and relax while eating some delicious Los Angeles local grub.

Besides the music and food trucks, the vendors are really what set this market apart from the other flea markets in LA. The high quality vintage collections and eclectic local artists really set the stage for this market to be a place shoppers return to when looking to add a more unique and artistic vibe to their home.

This dog friendly event is set for the last Sunday of every month from 10am to 4pm and entry is $5 dollars. If you don’t want to hassle with Downtown LA traffic or parking, this event is also close to the LA Metro system and an easy walk to the Grand Central Market and Angel’s Flight if you’re looking for something to do after the Flea Market.

DineLA’s Restaurant Week came to an end late last week and we certainly hope you had a chance to take advantage of some of the great prix fixe menus restaurants all over Los Angeles had to offer. With over 250 participating restaurants, finding one of your favorite restaurants on the list wasn’t hard. It was also an opportunity to try something new, at prices you don’t often see at many of these locations.

The DineLA Kickoff

I was able to make the kickoff event at the Library Bar at the Redbury Hotel where a half dozen participating chefs presented enticing samples intended to wet our palettes for the week to come. Chef Daniel Elmaleh (@cleorestaurant) presented a couple of my favorites – a Porchetta Sandwich from Mercado di Vetro and a Falafel Pita from Cleo’s, both of which were outstanding.

The Porchetta Sandwich from Mercado di Vetro

Other items on offer at the DineLA kickoff eventincluded Salt and Pepper Caramel Doughnuts from Pastry Chef Mariah Swan (@msmpswan) and organic, carbon-negative alcohols from the Greenbar Collective (@greenbardrinks).

Explore LA Food

Organic, carbon-negative alcohols from the Greenbar Collective

Although Restaurant Week is now over, Los Angeles is chock full of great places to eat so there’s no need to wait until the next one to get out and explore. From the local authentic taco stand to the white linen of your favorite place to get dressed up for, be sure to get out and enjoy all that LA Food has to offer. Don’t know how to start? Head over to Yelp and explore a bit online before you head out for a bite.